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Teaching Shakespeare Institute: Summer Academy

The Teaching Shakespeare Institute’s Summer Academy 2017, a deep dive into teaching Macbeth, took place July 9-14, 2017.

Thirty participants from all over the country spent a week at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., learning to teach Macbeth the Folger way: through attention to scholarship, performance, curriculum, and assessment.

Participants made strategic use of the Folger’s collection of rare materials—including the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and major collections in early English books, manuscripts, and art—and worked with scholars, theater professionals, and experienced teachers.

Maynard “Sandy” Mack, Jr., Professor Emeritus of English, University of Maryland; Michele Osherow, Associate Professor of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Resident Dramaturg, Folger Shakespeare Library; Ayanna Thompson, Professor of English, The George Washington University

Visiting Performance Faculty:

Caleen Sinnette Jennings, playwright, director, and Professor of Theatre at American University; and Michael Tolaydo, actor, director, and Professor Emeritus of Theater, Film, and Media Studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland

What Summer Academy participants accomplished

Summer Academy participants

Studied Macbeth—and how to teach it—as a scholar, a performer, and a classroom teacher.

Engaged in rigorous work all day, starting with scholarly lectures in the morning and ending with curriculum workshops in the evening.

Created 3-day teaching modules on Macbeth that incorporate primary source documents, performance-based approaches, and a focus on language.

Forged new relationships with Shakespeare, the Folger, and a professional learning community that stretches across the country and promotes exchange among teachers at all kinds of schools.